Message from the Dean

October 2020

Dear Faculty, Staff and Students,

As we work to sharpen the College’s identity, offer programs that meet the needs of students and the world and secure support for the College, I continue to be amazed by how many wonderful things all of you are doing. We will thrive in part by raising awareness about the breadth and depth of our activities and contributions. And so, in my monthly messages this fall, I am highlighting different areas of the College of Arts & Sciences.

This month’s focus is the natural and computational sciences. This area of the College encompasses Biological Sciences, Chemistry, Computer Science, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences and Physics. Courses in these areas tend to be heavily enrolled, as we not only serve our own undergraduate and graduate students but offer essential coursework for many other popular programs across campus, including Engineering and Health Sciences. Thanks in large part to our strengths in the natural and computational sciences, faculty in the Klingler College of Arts & Sciences garner about one-third of the total extramural funding across the university. The 70 grants to College faculty in 2019-20 totaled $11.7 million, an increase of over 50% from the previous year.   

Faculty in Biological Sciences, who include winners of university-wide research and teaching awards, study areas such as climate change, biodiversity, antibiotic resistance, genetic mechanisms of disease and the function of molecular machines. This breadth in research interests is reflected in distinct undergraduate majors including Biological Sciences, Physiological Sciences, Environmental Studies and Bioinformatics. Upper-division laboratory courses often include self-designed or novel experiments to help students think like scientists.  

Chemistry, like Biological Sciences, emphasizes the importance of involving students in research. The two departments together offer an undergraduate major in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. Graduate degrees offer a variety of specializations.  Faculty in the department cross organic, inorganic and physical chemistry. Faculty research includes such areas as solar energy, the synthesis of novel pharmaceuticals and natural products, nanomaterials and unstable molecules that are at work in many real-world chemical processes. A graduate student in chemistry recently won a prestigious Molecular Sciences Software Institute (MoISSI) fellowship. An undergraduate has produced a chemistry comic book reported on by National Public Radio.  

Computer Science, the newest department in Arts & Sciences, has become known for expertise in the ethics of data and algorithms. A faculty member was Principal Investigator on one of this year’s winning projects in the President’s Challenge for COVID-19 Response. Marquette’s Center for Cybersecurity Awareness and Cyber Defense hosted a virtual conference on October 9. This summer the department hosted an REU, or Research Experience for Undergraduates, sponsored by the National Science Foundation. Home to a nationally ranked online Master’s in Computing, the department also hosts a PhD program, a data science certificate and a range of undergraduate programs.  The department has also led efforts to enhance K-12 computer science teaching across Wisconsin. Computer Science serves as a hub for the study of data science across campus, which in fact crosses colleges and departments.

Mathematical and Statistical Sciences plays a crucial role in data science across campus. A distinctive feature is the department’s blending of mathematics and statistics with computational sciences. This computational and data-intensive focus means that the department engages in applied and interdisciplinary teaching and research along with foundational areas like mathematics education. Reflecting this breadth, faculty research focuses on areas such as medical imaging (the department’s largest research group), the mathematics of machine learning, hazard prediction, algorithms for big data analysis and genetic analysis. Along with its graduate programs, the department offers a range of undergraduate degrees and two accelerated degree programs.  

The department of Physics is home to faculty who specialize in experimental physics (observation and analysis) as well as theoretical physics (the development and testing of mathematical models). Physics lies at the heart of many technological innovations from the computer to the cell phone and also opens on to philosophical and theological inquiry. The department recently revised its curriculum and focuses on excellence in education, research and transferable skills. Physics has one of the highest rates at Marquette of undergraduates who go on to graduate school. Faculty participate in some of the largest collaborative projects in the world, including the international IceCube Collaboration at the South Pole.  Undergraduates take part in research opportunities and student organizations whether majoring in Physics, Biophysics or Applied Physics. A recent essay featured the creative ways in which Physics professors are enabling students to do lab work in the remote learning environment.

On October 6, the college co-hosted a screening of the film “Picture a Scientist” followed by a panel discussion that featured colleagues from Biological Sciences and Chemistry. The sciences benefit from a national organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, that has been a leader in working to end systemic racism. This organization also hosted an online conference this month on Science, Technology and Human Rights in which A&S faculty and staff were invited to participate thanks to generous funding from a donor. These efforts reflect Marquette’s values and our Catholic, Jesuit mission.

As always, please feel free to contact me with questions, concerns or suggestions. I appreciate hearing from you and exploring ways we can all work together for the common good.

Sincerely,

Dr. Heidi Bostic
Dean, Klingler College of Arts and Sciences